STEP 1:
Contact your interviewee and give them a reason for your contact and why you chose them in particular.
STEP 2:
Arrange a mutual method of connection: in person, skype, email, telephone, or any other method that is acceptable.
STEP 3:
Make a list of what you want to get out of the interview and don't leave until you have an answer to all of your questions.
STEP 4:
Make sure everything is planned in accordance with deadlines so you have plenty of time to conduct an interview around both yours and your interviewees schedules .
Interview Advice:
Start slow, safe and personal - begin with questions that address the interviewee specifically
Coax, don't hammer - a soft style that coaxes can be revealing, newsworthy and give more useful answers
Make some questions open-ended - allows the interviewee to give more than what you have asked
Ask what you don't know - surprising answers can often be the best answers
Let them wander, but be careful - wandering can lead to a deeper conversation, but be mindful of time
The construction of the interview should be based on what you want to achieve from it.
Don't send advance questions - avoid if possible as the interviewee will only answer what you have asked and responses will be limited
View set questions as a guidelines - be open for the interview to reach unexpected territory
Be prepared - most often an interviewees response to a question will beg for a follow up and many times the follow up question will reveal more than the initial answer, so be prepared to go off script
Listen, really listen - re-approach topics that the interviewee appears passionate about and be careful not to revisit topics that the interviewee does not want to discuss
There are dumb questions - avoid repetition or obvious questions that have been answered before
Types of Questions:
Introducing questions - through these questions you introduce a topic
why did you...
can you tell me about...
Follow up questions - allows you to elaborate on certain points and gain more information
would you be able to clarify...
can we go back and talk more about...
Specifying questions - allows you to clarify facts of uncertain points
what happened when you said that...
what did he/she say next...
Indirect questions - you can ask these to get the interviewees true opinion
and what happened next...
Structuring questions - these move the interviewee on to the next subject
Interpreting questions
did you mean that...
moving on to...
Good leading questions:
Whats the best advice you've ever received?
Who inspires you and why?
What's the hardest lesson you've ever learned?
Describe a defining moment in your life?
What is your biggest accomplishment?
Do you have a personal motto?